Author Author

On the Road — July 2004

By
Thos L. Bryant, Editor-in-Chief

Nov 6, 2012

Much of the joy of being a part of the Road & Track family is that it includes so many outstanding talents. Among the many are two who have new books coming out within a few weeks, and I wanted to let you know about them.

First, there is Ferrari — A Champion's View by Contributing Editor Phil Hill. As most of you know, Phil Hill became the first American to reign as Drivers World Champion, winning the crown in 1961 driving for the Ferrari Formula 1 team. But Phil was also the master of long-distance sports-car racing, and this new book is devoted to sports-racing cars.

It's a compendium of stories that Phil originally did for Road & Track or the U.S. Ferrari owners' magazine, Rosso Ferrari. All of the outstanding photography in the book is by R&T Editor-at-Large John Lamm, who has been Phil's sidekick on automotive adventures for more than 25 years.

Who among car enthusiasts can resist the opportunity to figuratively ride along with Phil while he demonstrates the performance of a 166 Barchetta or the original Testa Rossa model? And he brings his unique voice, knowledge and wealth of experience to bear on each of the subject cars.

I don't believe that there has ever been a Drivers World Champion who has written anything approaching the number of stories authored by Phil. He has been involved with Road & Track in one way or another since 1950, and has brought to our pages the authority and prestige of his enormous success in racing. And beyond that, he's a fine fellow with whom we all enjoy working.

Another of our Contributing Editors is former racing driver Sam Posey who made quite a name for himself in Formula 5000, Trans-Am, Can-Am and a variety of other arenas. I even persuaded Sam to race a Jeep with me in the Baja 1000 many years ago, and yet we remain friends and colleagues.

I have always described Sam as a Renaissance man in the classic sense of that term: someone with too many talents and skills to count. Sam is an architect by education, a writer, a painter and as noted a racing driver of great skill. He has also been a television commentator on everything from Formula 1 races to the Tour de France bicycle competition to the Iditarod dogsled race across Alaska.

Underlying all of that, Sam has had a lifelong love affair with model railroads. His new book is titled Playing with Trains: A Passion Beyond Scale. Posey's passion began, like many of ours, with a Lionel train in his childhood, but he pursued the commitment to become a world-class modeler, eventually spending 16 years constructing his museum-quality Colorado Midland Railway layout with his son, John.

The book tells the story of this project and broadens out to capture the personalities and stories of model railroaders across the land, with Sam's wonderful ability to portray their enthusiasm and excitement on paper. This is a book that anyone can enjoy, whether passionate about model railroading or not, because it is fundamentally a human story about finding a passion, learning how to be good at it, and thrilling to the joy of sharing it with loved ones and friends. Sam Posey has always been terrific about sharing his passions with all of us, and we are delighted that his book on this subject is now available.

Playing With Trains is published by Random House and goes on sale in mid-September. The price is $21.95, and if you can't find it in your local bookstore, you can write to Random House, 1745 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10019; telephone (212) 782-9000; or email . Happy reading.

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